Electrick Children Movie Reviews

User reviews on Electrick Children

4

I really liked this film and I recommend seeing it in the theaters, I was pleasantly surprised by this film and i think a lot of people will. Even though it was quite uneven, I found it to be intriguing and daring and I praise risk-taking writer-director Rebecca Thomas. The film was nonjudgmental and refreshing and I thought it was very well acted. The film is sensible and it explores youthful curiosity in a very humane way. I was extremely impressed with the young actress Julia Garner, she delivered a great performance and I can not wait to see what role she will tackle in the future. Overall, I think this film is worth your time and money.

4

Okay, so call me prejudiced, but lately it seems like the Mormons have become quite a bit more humanized than America has generally been willing to acknowledge. I think Mitt Romney should get a lot of credit for this because, let's face it, until he showed up people had a lot of misconceptions about Mormons. Don't get me wrong, I did vote for the guy, but I do think he did Mormons a great service. This movie also does the same, mostly because the stunningly talented writer-director was raised Mormon and she knows what she is talking about. The story is about a teenage girl who thinks she has become pregnant through immaculate conception after hearing a song on a cassette player. It sounds bizarre - and it is - but it is also deeply fascinating and touching as few stories about girls in movies are. I would recommend this to everyone who likes stories about people they know next to nothing about.

3

I enjoyed this movie for the most part, though I am not sure I would encourage anyone under the age of 16 to watch it. It has some very heavy handed things to say about religion and especially how some religions treat women. I have known many Mormons in my lifetime but none of them have been the hardcore religious types that are in this movie. From what I learned by reading online, the woman who wrote and directed the film was raised Mormon and this is her homage to that childhood. It's not a romantic view of Mormonism, but it's also not an outright condemnation either. The movie is a great story that mixes magic and realism which will have everyone talking after its over. It's also a great vehicle for the young lead actress who I recognized from "Perks of Being a Wallflower". She turns in a truly astonishing performance and she should win awards for such immense talent.

4

A lot of very talented directors make auspicious film debuts before they inevitably turn asunder with a commercial cop-out or a genuinely flabbergastingly bad movie (I’m talking to you, Clint Eastwood). But those first directorial features often offer audience something fresh and memorable. Writer-director Rebecca Thomas’s debut Electrick Children is one such film.

The film is rooted in one of the most mysterious fringe communities of modern American society: the Mormon faith. Rachel (Julia Garner) is a 15 year old like many other teens: she is bored by her life and fears a mundane future. She is also a member of the Mormon community in Utah, raised by a preacher father who takes her adherence to Mormon values and lifestyle deeply seriously.

Rachel, however, yearns for something more, and turns to a song (the Blondie favorite “Hanging on the Telephone”) which changes her irrevocably inside. Something is awakened, just as something is broken. She becomes convinced that she is pregnant, though she has never so much as been touched by a man. Her family believes she is pregnant and arranges for her to marry a good Mormon boy. Rachel, however, escapes to Las Vegas with her brother, and ends up meeting a group of rambunctious skaters and musicians who have a better understanding of her “immaculate conception”.

The movie is an obvious homage to the director’s Mormon upbringing, but it isn’t one that so much celebrates that past as offers it up as a longing for something better. Like most childhood’s, this one has its shortcomings; and like most almost-adulthoods, those childhoods must be unlocked and understood before we become parents ourselves.